Hello, You can try the below steps to troubleshoot, and resolve the issue.

1. Verify SES Production Access

Even though you've indicated that you've "entered production," it's essential to ensure that your SES account is fully out of the sandbox. In the sandbox, you can only send emails to and from verified addresses within your organization.

• Check SES Console:
  • Navigate to the Amazon SES Console.
  • In the SES Dashboard, check the Account details section.
  • Ensure that Production access is enabled. If not, you may need to request a sending limit increase to move fully out of the sandbox.

For more details on verification troubleshooting, you can refer to SES Verification Troubleshooting.

2. Confirm Email Address and Domain Verification

Ensure that the sender email address or domain is verified in SES. If you're sending from a domain, it's preferable to verify the entire domain rather than individual email addresses.

• Verify Sender Identity:
  • In the SES Console, go to Verified identities.
  • Ensure that the From email address or the entire domain is listed and marked as verified.
• Verify Recipient Addresses (Only in Sandbox):
  • If you're still in the sandbox, you need to verify each recipient email address. Moving to production removes this requirement.

3. Update IAM Policies and Permissions and use SendEmail, and SendRawEmail Permissions

Ensure that the IAM user or role you're using has the necessary permissions to send emails via SES.

• Required Permissions:

  {
      "Version": "2012-10-17",
      "Statement": [
          {
              "Effect": "Allow",
              "Action": [
                  "ses:SendEmail",
                  "ses:SendRawEmail"
              ],
              "Resource": "*"
          }
      ]
  }

• Steps to Verify:

  • Go to the IAM Console.
  • Locate the user or role associated with your AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY.
  • Ensure the above permissions are attached either directly or via a policy.

4. Check SES Metrics

• Monitor Bounces and Complaints:
  • Navigate to Suppression List and Suppression Settings to see if any recipient addresses are suppressed.
  • High bounce or complaint rates can impact your ability to send emails. Check out the SES Troubleshoot Delivery Issues guide for more details.

5. Validate Configuration Settings in Django

Ensure that your Django settings for django-ses are correctly configured.

• Sample Configuration:

  AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID = 'YOUR_UPDATED_KEY'
  AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY = 'YOUR_SECRET_KEY'
  EMAIL_BACKEND = 'django_ses.SESBackend'
  
  AWS_SES_REGION_NAME = 'us-east-1'
  AWS_SES_REGION_ENDPOINT = 'email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com'  # Ensure this matches your SES region
  
  AWS_SES_AUTO_THROTTLE = 0.5  # Optional: Adjust as needed

• Common Issues:

  • Region Mismatch: Ensure that the AWS_SES_REGION_NAME and AWS_SES_REGION_ENDPOINT match the region where your SES is configured.
  • Credentials: Double-check that the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY are correct and have the necessary permissions.

6. DKIM and SPF Settings

Ensure that your domain is properly configured with DKIM and SPF to avoid your emails being marked as spam or rejected. Improper configurations here could cause delivery issues.

For more details on troubleshooting DKIM settings, refer to the official SES DKIM Troubleshooting documentation.

7. Enable and Review Detailed Logging

To get more insights into what's happening when attempting to send emails, enable detailed logging.

• Enable Logging in Django:

  LOGGING = {
      'version': 1,
      'disable_existing_loggers': False,
      'handlers': {
          'console': {
              'class': 'logging.StreamHandler',
          },
      },
      'loggers': {
          'django_ses': {
              'handlers': ['console'],
              'level': 'DEBUG',
          },
      },
  }

• Check Application Logs:

  • Review the logs to identify any error messages or exceptions thrown when attempting to send emails outside your organization.

8. Test Sending Emails Directly via SES

To isolate whether the issue is with Django integration or SES itself, try sending an email directly using the AWS CLI or SES Console.

• Using AWS CLI:

  aws ses send-email \
      --from "verified-sender@example.com" \
      --destination "ToAddresses=recipient@example.com" \
      --message "Subject={Data=Test Email},Body={Text={Data=This is a test}}"

• Using SES Console:

  • Go to the SES Console.
  • Navigate to Email Addresses or Domains.
  • Use the Send a Test Email feature to send an email to an external address.

• Outcome:

  • If these methods succeed, the issue likely lies within your Django configuration.
  • If they fail, the problem is with SES configuration or permissions.

9. Check for Network or Firewall Restrictions

Ensure that your server or hosting environment allows outbound connections to the SES endpoints, especially if you're using specific ports or protocols.

• Ports to Allow:
  • SMTP: Typically uses port 587 or 25.
  • HTTPS: For API calls, ensure port 443 is open.

10. Review SES Error Messages

If you're receiving specific error messages, reviewing the details can often point to the root cause of the problem. You can review detailed information about SES errors by referring to SES Error Messages Troubleshooting.